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Black Kids With Black Teachers Get Less Suspensions, Expulsions and Detentions

In the U.S. public school system, the disciplinary measures taken based on misconduct are determined by the lead administrators at each individual public school district.

The U.S. Department of Education does its duty to monitor the disciplinary policies of these administrators by tracking data. The federal government looks at this data and determines certain criteria for what can be generally implemented as legal consequences. However, in this nation, there are very big problems with delivering consequences and they are based on race.

This issue was recently covered by an online news source, which cited an academic research study on racially-motivated suspensions and expulsions by public schools in the U.S.

“Researchers from American University and University of California, Davis, looked at teacher demographic and student discipline data for North Carolina elementary school students from 2008 to 2013,” wrote Rebecca Klein, a national education correspondent for the Huffington Post.

This study concluded a fact that many people have believed for a long time. Teachers have more problems with students that look like them than they do with students who do not. This leads to disruptions and other conduct issues, which lead to the suspension and expulsion of students.

The authors of this study by the American University and University of California, Davis wrote that black boys are the ones who suffer the greatest consequences in these white-run public schools across the U.S.

“This effect is driven almost entirely by black students, especially black boys, who are markedly less likely to be subjected to exclusionary discipline when taught by black teachers,” wrote the study’s authors. “There is little evidence of any benefit for white students of being matched with white teachers,” they continued.

Discipline ultimately starts in the home and there really isn’t any getting around that. The work week is one thing, but children are getting the majority of their influence from whoever their legal guardians are in the home. Racially-charged suspension and expulsion is one of the main drivers behind the flock of minority parents who are currently educating their children at home.